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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

LOST: Season 6 Episode 3 - What Kate Does

Hello LOSTIES!! 7 Days later and we have another episode and another recap! It definitely is great to have LOST back in our lives for the next few months. Then, sadly, it will all be over! Things were crazy weird tonight, but in an awesome way of course. Damon Lindelof already tweeted for people to tune into NCIS Los Angeles if anyone considers this a "FILLER" episode. Yes, it didn't have the same shock and awe value of the season premiere. But, ever episode cannot pack that punch. Just because it's the final season doesn't mean we should expect things to move on all cylinders at all times. We fell in love with this show because of investing in these characters. And character stuff is what we got. That is not to say we didn't get some crazy twists and information along the way. We're going to dissect it all as we always do, but let me just give my review of the episode: WOW!!! (yeah, every episode of this final season will get it. I'm not even going to try and hide my biased nature!)

So, "WHAT KATE DOES" is a play on words of the season 2 Kate-centric episode "What Kate Did". In that episode we learned what Kate did to end up in the hand-cuffs and on the run. She had murdered her step-father by blowing up his house. Of course, Wayne turned out to be her ACTUAL father which is what ended up motivating her to kill him. Of course, if any of you saw the Comic-Con video from this year, in the FLASH SIDEWAYS world (that's what Team LOST is officially calling them), Kate is accused of blowing up a building that included Wayne's plumbing company. But Wayne was not there. Instead, his apprentice, Ryan Milner was killed in the explosion. Of course, this is a FLASH SIDEWAYS and Kate is claiming to be innocent by the end of the episode. Perhaps, she was set up and needs to clear her name (Fugitive Style)? We will get to all of that though!

So, there are 3 storylines we essentially follow in this episode. Sayid has woken up from a deathly slumber and not all is right in the state of TEMPLE LAND. Jack has to make a big decision and the fate of resurrected Sayid hangs in the balance. Sawyer, still mourning the loss of Juliet, runs off and Kate/Jin are tasked with a couple Others to bring him back. Not all goes according to plan! And of course, we had the Flash Sideways that continued to follow Kate as she hijacked a cab with Claire in it. Interesting stuff folks!

Kate's Flash Sideways

Kate's Escape from the Airport

We start Kate's "sideways" storyline exactly where it left off. She gets in the cab trying to avoid the air marshal (Edward). The dude from Heroes is the cab driver and Claire is the passenger (really wish I didn't know that Heroes tidbit!). Obviously, she gets away. Claire is all scared and stuff, and the cab driver jumps out of the car. Here's a few things to note from the getaway.

Arzt makes another cameo, and we just can't get enough of that guy right? This time the driver almost hits him with the cab while he's being held at gunpoint. Arzt's luggage eventually gets run over. Poor dude. But at least he might not blow up in this timeline. Well, maybe he does!

Kate sees Jack on his cell phone and it looks like she, like Jack last week, has a sort of deja vu moment. Jack seems to look at her too. Now, they did run into each other on the plane. But, this didn't seem to be a coincidence. It happens later on in this storyline as well. So now both Jack and Kate are having recollections of a prior timeline. Will it lead anywhere? Well, one would hope so, right?

Kate takes Claire's purse and runs off with the cab (kicking Claire to the side of the road).

Claire is still pregnant in sideways land. Yeah, pretty obvious but it wasn't at the end of last week. And many were speculating why we only saw her from the neck up.

Kate gets Handcuffs Off

In one of the most gripping scenes of LOST ever we get an entire scene dedicated to Kate ditching the cuffs at an auto shop. (Definitely kidding about the gripping part) Here's what went down.

Kate runs into random auto mechanic guy. I'm sure all of us figured it would be someone significant. And hey, maybe it and we just don't know it yet.

Long story short, she gets the cuffs off and the guy asks what she's on the run for? Kate says murder. She asks for a place to get changed and the guy laughs and points her in the right direction. So bizarre, right? I just figured Kate would go to the bathroom and the dude would call the cops. But, I guess either Kate has some kind of charm with guys or he was just trying to be helpful. Very random scene either way!

Oh and she offers him $200 for the help. Did she ever pay him? I'm getting ahead of myself but she tells Claire she didn't take her money. Yeah, not on the top of my list of mysteries to be resolved, but still. Huh?

Kate starts going through Claire's purse. She finds some onesies, a polaroid of pregnant Claire, and a stuffed whale. I know when I saw the whale I thought it looked familiar. I couldn't place it. Well, I did some searching and yes, this is the same whale that Aaron was clutching to in "Something Nice Back Home" when Jack yelled at Kate saying "you're not even related to him!!!" So what does that mean? Well, Kate probably bought the whale in the other timeline, and Claire bought it in this one. Aaron was meant to have that stuffed whale? Kate and Claire's paths were meant to intersect?

Kate and Claire - together again

Kate shows that she's not just a cold-blooded killer on the run and heads back to where she kicked Claire out of the car. Claire is just sitting there, waiting for a bus or something.

Kate asks Claire where she was going. Claire says she was going to give up her baby to some parents in Los Angeles. So, of course, the question is was the psychic Malkin involved again in this case? He was so determined that she be on flight 815. Either way, in both timelines, there were prospective parents in Los Angeles. But, the parents didn't show up to pick up Claire as they said they would. Kate offers a ride to Claire which she eventually accepts. And they're off to Brentwood, California!

When they get there Claire notes that the neighborhood is beautiful. Kate is hesitant to say anything, but Claire assumes that she thinks the adoptive parents didn't show up on purpose. Claire asks Kate to come in with her. Kate does accept.

A woman answers the door crying and then apologizes to Claire. Her husband left her and as much as she wants a baby she cannot do it on her own. Claire is upset, Kate yells at her "she flew all the way from Australia!!" blah blah blah......oh wait! Claire is getting contractions!

So, once again, just like Kate delivered Claire's baby in the Island timeline, it looks like she is going to be directly involved in Claire's delivery this time. Or is she?

They get her to the hospital. Kate sees cops and heads into the hospital to avoid them. You'll never guess who ends up being Claire's doctor.

Yes, it's Dr. Ethan Goodspeed! (not Ethan ROM as he was on the Island after he became one of THE OTHERS) This is the son of Horace and Amy Goodspeed. He must have gotten off the island before Jughead blew in this timeline? Maybe during the evacuation that Chang ordered? In any case, Ethan seems to be a pleasant doctor in this timeline, never corrupted by Ben Linus and The Others.

Ethan tells Claire they could induce labor now or calm things down, but he doesn't want to needlessly stick needles in her. Pretty funny if you remember Ethan giving Claire the vaccine and other drugs on the Island.

Claire tells Ethan that she doesn't want to have the baby now. That she isn't ready. So, they begin to start calming her down. But then the baby's monitor flatlines! Oh boy. Claire starts freaking out and in the heat of the moment she asks "What's happening to my babeh?? Is Aaron okay??". Claire had never said the name before in this timeline. Of course, when she named him in the other timeline, she was asking Charlie to save him from crazy Rousseau (ahhh isn't THAT ironic? more on that later).

Kate seemed to recognize the name when Claire said it. Another deja vu moment from another life brotha?

Aaron turns out being okay, but the experience seemed to bond Claire and her unborn child. Just like in the other timeline, she grew attached to Aaron and could never dream of giving him away. Claire seems destined to raise Aaron in both timelines. Just like the psychic dude had told her in season 1's "Raised by Another". What is so special about this kid that ends up loving juice boxes years later and also likes running off with people that have hair like his mother!? I'm sure we all would like to know!

Time passes and we catch Claire looking at an ultrasound picture. We might want to note that the date on the picture says 10-22-04 instead of 9-22-04 the original Flight 815 date. Surely, the writers or prop guys wouldn't mess up an important detail like that, right? Is there any significance in the flight being a month later? Ethan did say that Claire was 36 weeks pregnant which is 9 months. She was only 8 months pregnant in season 1. That's 2 details indicating that it is indeed October. Oh well, let's just note it for now and see if anything comes from it!

A Detective comes in looking for Kate but calls her Joan Heart (or Hart), which is how Kate signed in at the hospital. I looked up any significance to the name and all I got was Melissa Joan Hart! That's the key to LOST folks! Eventually our mysteries will be answered when Clarissa Explains it All!

Claire covers for Kate, who is in the other room. The detectives lead and Kate/Claire start endlessly thanking each other. Kate loves the name Aaron. Claire says that she didn't know why she said it, it was like she just knew it. Ahhhh very interesting. Kate gives Claire advice to keep the baby.

Claire gives Kate her credit card. Will this tie the 2 together down the line again?

Oh right, and Claire asks why the cops are after her. Kate claims to be innocent which Claire believes. Hmmm, so we got that America's Most Wanted story at Comic-Con, but maybe in this storyline, Kate IS really just trying to clear her name (like I mentioned above). Maybe she really didn't kill anyone. Of course, then who did kill the guy, and are we really going to spend more time on Kate's sideways storyline to find out? Hey, one would hope if they're introducing questions in the final season, that they have a plan to answer them!

The Temple

Sayid's Awake/Sawyer's Exit

We continue this storyline right where we left off. We see Lennon wandering the halls of the Temple (showing that there is more to this place than just a healing spring). He gets to the Japanese Guy (who reveals himself later to be Dogen). Dogen is in front of a typewriter. Random thing to have in this Temple isn't it? Lennon mentions that Jarrah is alive. Dogen looks concerned. Meanwhile, back in the Fountain/Spring room, Jack and crew huddle around Sayid.

Everyone is excited Sayid is okay. Sayid is still confused by what is going on. He wonders what happened to him. Jack tells Sayid that he died. And we all know that on the Island, Dead is Dead! Well, I guess, except in this case. Let's continue diving in.

Kate and Sawyer have a side discussion. Kate doesn't believe that Sayid can possibly be alive. Sawyer is upset that Sayid - the torturer/child shooter - gets another shot at living while Juliet died. Okay, I know we need Sawyer to go through his mourning period. And we all know that Claire's mourning of Charlie didn't last quite long enough. But, Sawyer better get a pep in his step soon!

Sawyer tells Kate he doesn't like being held hostage and he's planning to get out of there. He asks Kate how many guards there are. Very similar to Sawyer scoping out the Hydra Island when they were locked in the cages.

Jack and Jin help Sayid outside. Sayid asks about who these people are. Hurley fills him in that it's The Others, that they caught them and that he think they're trying to help.

Miles gets in a great crack about Hurley assuming the leadership position of the crew.

Jack notes that Sayid's wound is almost completely closed. That crazy healing spring!

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and say it. Sayid acts like a big wuss the whole episode! I know he had just been shot but the man was a torturer. He just whines and thanks Jack for saving his life and really pathetic way. That's the last I'll complain about it, but it kinda got annoying!

Dogen and Lennon come out and request that Sayid come with them. Naturally, Jack is having none of it. He wants answers to what is going on and why they are being held. Lennon says they will be provided after they meet with Sayid. Jack still doesn't buy it and the fighting starts. Everyone's getting all riled up until Sawyer fires a gun in the air. (why? why wouldn't he just sneak out while everyone was occupied? Because that wouldn't be good TV, duh!)

Lennon immediately tells all of the Others to lower their weapons and promises they won't hurt Sayid. It seems that whatever was on Jacob's letter, it stated it is very important that these people stay alive. Sawyer doesn't care about Sayid or anyone and says he is leaving. Dogen breaks out of his Japanese to tell Sawyer he must stay. Sawyer, bluntly, responds "No I don't". He takes down the barricade on the door and leaves. But not before he looks at Kate and says "Don't come after me."

Naturally, when Lennon states the importance of Sawyer returning, Kate is first on board to go and get him. She talks about how she can be very convincing when she wants to be. Really?? I thought Kate just hung around and cried and hopped back and forth into Jack and Sawyer's good graces? I'm sure it was just a segueway into her Flash Sideways where she convinced the random guy to take off her cuffs. But, the line seemed a bit out of character for Kate. Jin offers to go with Kate. Finally, he's not just sitting around. He wants to go find his wife!

Kate and Jack have a scene before she leaves. Jack semi-offers to go but he knows that Sawyer really wouldn't want to see him right now. Then the ultimate cheese line is provided by Kate, "I'll take care of James, you take care of Sayid." Jack and Kate have their longing moment where he tells her to be careful. And then he's like "Don't you know I blew up the Island for you?! Now you're going after Sawyer?!" Okay, he didn't say that but you could read it in his eyes!

And with that Kate, Jin and a couple of others head off.

Sayid's Test

Okay, so Dogen and Lennon get their way and bring Sayid into some crazy room. We find out that they were testing him for something. But the things involved in this test were forms of torture. Ironic, because Sayid has tortured so many.

There was the ash or black powder that Dogen blew on top of Sayid's chest. Huh? (Yes Sayid kept whiningly asking "why are you doing this to me? What is that?" So out of character again!)

There was the wiring up Sayid and electrocuting him.

And then we must not forget the hot iron that Dogen placed on Sayid's chest. Check out Sayid's face on this one!

Sayid asks why they're doing this to him. And Lennon tells him it was a test and that he passed. Once Sayid leaves the room we find out that he certainly did NOT pass. I guess you're all wondering what black powder (or the ash), electrocution, and a hot iron have to do with testing Sayid for internal demons, right? Yep, so am I!

Jack's Test

Sayid is brought out back into the spring room. He whiningly tells them that he was tortured.

Star Wars fans will be quick to note that Sayid quoted Han Solo (from the Empire Strikes Back) when he said "they didn't ask me any questions." Not sure if it was intentional or not, but I like to think intentional.

Jack gets all Hero-like and barges towards the guards. "Step aside!!" And they do. Pretty funny that they would just do that until we find out Lennon and Dogen wanted him to come in. You go Jack!

Dogen says something in Japanese about Sayid, and Lennon translates saying that the closest translation would be that he's "infected". Hmmm I know what you're all thinking. The sickness! Rousseau's crew got sick in the caves near the temple. Did the same thing happen when Sayid was put in the dirty spring? Of course, more details are revealed later that make me think something differently. But we'll get there.

Jack says that Sayid isn't running a fever to which Dogen laughs.

We see Dogen mixing up something into a pill and then he gives it to Jack. They tell him that Sayid must take the pill and Jack has to give it to him. Jack asks why they won't do it himself. Lennon explains that the pill must be taken willingly or it won't work. WHAT? Maybe I'm new to medicine, but I think it works whether someone forces it down your throat or if you take it yourself. Now, this is some magic pill that needs to be taken willingly? What kind of infection is this?

Jack refuses to give Sayid the pill until he knows what is in it. Dogen speaks in English asking if Jack was responsible for any deaths or injuries on the Island while people were helping him. Jack says yes. Dogen says that this is his chance to redeem himself. If Sayid doesn't take the medicine the infection will spread.

Meanwhile Hurley and Miles are talking to Sayid. Miles is questioning Sayid on if he saw a white light or angels singing. Sayid says that all he remembers is being shot. Is this similar to Ben where he forgot most of the event that caused him to go into the spring?

Hurley, in a nod to the producers who always joked that Season 7 would be "Zombie Season" of LOST, asks if Sayid is a Zombie. To this Sayid says no.

I love that when Jack comes out to talk to Sayid, Hurley wants to bolt to not get recruited for something he doesn't understand. But Miles had the classic line "We'll be in the Food Court if you need us." Ahh good times.

Sayid and Jack have a very cheesy heart to heart. Jack talks about how he didn't save Sayid, that The Others did. Sayid says that he'll take the pill if Jack wants him to because he trusts HIM not THEM. Awwwww Maybe Jack doesn't need Kate in his life after all!

Jack returns to Dogen who is staring at a baseball. Hmm, maybe Dogen ended up on the Island when flying to one of his major league games one time? Surely, there is a significance to the baseball. More than just Dogen telling Jack that it's a baseball to get a laugh.

Jack sits down to have a heart to heart with Dogen. Jack asks about the english and the translator. Dogen says that having the translator is to remain separate from the people he is in charge of. It makes it easier when he has to make decisions that they don't like.

To this Jack asks who Dogen is. Dogen says that he was brought to the Island just like everyone else. He suggests that Jack knows exactly what he means. I reflected right back to the conversation between Jacob and the Man in Black as the supposed Black Rock was arriving to the Island. MIB says "I don't have to ask. You brought them here." It would seem like Jacob is the one meddling with these people's lives and recruiting them for the Island. It would seem that Jacob's touch has something to do with it too. But we definitely need more information!

We find out that Jack didn't give Sayid the pill because he still wants to know what it is. So, hero Jack decides to swallow the pill himself which forces Dogen into action. He runs over and hits Jack and tries to get him to cough the pill back up. He succeeds. Jack asks what the pill is. And....dum dum dummmmm....It's POISON!

Operation: Retrieve Sawyer

Kate, Jin and a Couple Others

Meanwhile, there is lots of chatter as Kate tries to track down Sawyer. Aldo, one of the others you may recognize, seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Justin, seems to be a friendly OTHER who wants to side with the LOSTIES.

That's right. Do you guys remember Aldo? First off, it's Rob McElhenney from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But you may also recognize him from his cameo as Aldo the Other in season 3 who fell for the ol' Prisoner Wookie Exchange at Room 23. This is when Saywer and Kate were escaping from Hydra Island but had to free Alex's boyfriend Karl first. Kate hit Aldo over the head with the rifle and he still holds a grudge over it!

But before we get to that, Jin asks about the Ajira flight. Aldo is not being cooperative. Justin starts to talk about the 2nd plane landing. This ties in to Cindy knowing that there was another plane that came to the Island after Flight 815. Aldo tells Justin to shut up.

Then of course, Kate recognizes the Dummy Trail and Aldo doesn't believe her. Justin again agrees with Kate.

They also ran into some traps that look like things Rousseau set up. Justin starts saying that Rousseau has been dead for years and that it must be.....Aldo again tells him to shut up.

And then Aldo starts complaining about the Season 3 encounter. Kate takes advantage of the situation and beats on Aldo again. The trap is sprung and Justin gets knocked out too, leaving Jin and Kate free to do what they want.

We find out Kate has no intentions of going back to the temple with Sawyer. She doesn't want to be held captive either. (She wants to find Claire is what she wants to do!) Jin doesn't really want any part of Kate's mission to find Sawyer and then just whine all day and night for eternity with him. He wants to find Sun. He asks Kate where the Ajira plane landed. Okay, WHAT? Are you telling me that Jack and crew never explained to Jin that they were on the plane one moment, and then they woke up in 1977? Why would he ask this question?

Regardless...it seems that Kate and Jin part ways here.

Othersville/Dharmaville

Kate tracks Sawyer all the way to good ol' DHARMAVILLE, which in the later years became Othersville or New Otherton. Kate goes to what used to be Sawyer's house in the 70's and Sawyer is seen pulling up the floor and grabbing a shoebox. It looks like Kate is about to walk away but Sawyer hears a noise and pulls out his gun.

Kate starts apologizing for everything. She apologizes for following Sawyer against his wishes. Sawyer, seeing a hint of his humor back, says "Which time?"

Then she apologizes for convincing him and Juliet to get off the sub and stop Jack. But Sawyer takes the blame for the whole Juliet thing himself. It was at that very doc in 1974 that Juliet wanted to leave the Island. And Sawyer convinced her to stay so he wouldn't be alone. Yeah, that's all true and everything, but it was 1974!!! What would she have had to go back to in the real world?

We also find out that Sawyer was going to propose to Juliet. The ring was what was in the shoebox. But now he realizes some people are just meant to be alone. This is one broken man! He throws the ring into the water.

Kate tells Sawyer that she came back to the Island to get Claire, get her off the Island and bring her to Aaron. That maybe it would all be worth it if she could do that. She wanted to recruit Sawyer for help. Doesn't seem like he's very interested!

Later on, we see Kate hanging out near the barracks. Sawyer walks by, into his house and then closes the door. He wants nothing to do with anyone. And it looks like Kate is going to leave without him.

Final Scenes

Dogen and Jack at the Temple

Lennon and Dogen offer Jack some Tea to which Jack laughs. Jack wants to know why they wanted to kill Sayid.

Dogen tells Jack that they believe he has been "something in Japanese". Lennon says the closest translation is "CLAIMED" Hmmmm what?

Dogen says there is a darkness growing in him. Once it reaches his heart, everything they know about Sayid will be gone. Jack asks how they can be sure. Because the same thing happened to his sister! Woaaaaa

So wait, what? Before we get into the final moment of the episode, let's pause. Back in season 4, the freighter crew fires a rocket at Claire's house. Sawyer runs in after her. She is unconscious then seemingly wakes up asking for Charlie. (awwww) Claire tells them all when she gets to Ben's house that "I'll live" and Miles says "I wouldn't be too sure about that." Miles, Claire and Sawyer later are on their way back to the LOSTIES Camp and Miles keeps staring at Claire. We know he has a knack for feeling things with dead people. Sawyer gives Miles a restraining order and we look at it as a big joke until we start piecing things together later. Christian Shephard, in his new garb (no suit and sneakers) is hanging out with Aaron and then takes Claire away. The next time we see Claire she is in Jacob's Cabin where Christian says he can speak for Jacob. But now, with the whole circle of ash thing, we're suspecting that maybe MIB took over or was trapped in the cabin at some point. (see endless debate in the Season premiere blog comments) But Claire is there, and Shephard says that Locke shouldn't tell anyone he saw her there because it would be too confusing. Fast forward to last week when Miles was staring at a Dead Sayid in a similar way that he stared at Claire. And we all say....HUH? Was Claire brought to the Temple? Or did the dirty water CLAIM Sayid similar to how maybe Christian Shephard, MIB or Jacob claimed Claire? It would seem that Jacob didn't claim claire, so we have to assume it's the Man in Black/Smoke Monster/Possibly Christian Shephard entity. So what does "CLAIMING" mean? Well, I have no idea. Were Rousseau's crew under the same spell? Or possibly, was ROUSSEAU herself under the same spell? We will tackle that question after we examine the final scene.

Jin

Jin is wandering through the jungle alone until he runs back into a very unhappy Aldo and Justin. Aldo is all flipping out and everything. Jin tells them that he was going back to the Temple. Was he really? Doubtful.

Jin makes a run for it and gets caught in another one of these crazy traps. This makes Aldo laugh quite a bit. And then he's about to shoot him. Justin tells Aldo that they need them all alive. Ahh Jacob how you confuse us with your lists and plans!

Aldo doesn't care, but before he can shoot, Aldo himself gets shot and killed. Justin gets shot as well, but it's tough to say if he was killed.

I think at this point, we all knew who the mystery shooter was. Yep, everyone welcome back Miss Claire Littleton to LOST. But she sure is looking a lot different these days! Jin sees her, makes a face and says, "Claire?"

BOOM LOST!!!!!

Say what you want about the slow and cheesy episode, I still say WOW! LOST still knows how to deliver a solid cliffhanger and make us want more! Woaa, so Claire has a darkness in her? She has been setting traps up around the Island like crazy Rousseau did? Hmmm, maybe Rousseau was the sick one and her crew wasn't? She did steal Aaron that one time. But by season 3/4 she seemed to be getting a little more normal. So what gives? Is there any saving of Claire in the timeline we all know or is she only going to be okay in the Flash Sideways land? Or will the 2 Claires intersect at some point helping return her to her normal self? Same with Sayid? Wow, lots of questions. All of it sounds ridiculous to type out. But, a lot of LOST does, right?

So, not much to analyze in this episode I don't think but I think we all still have tons to speculate from last week combined with this week. So carry on with your awesome comments everyone! I think people who want strong mythology episodes will be more interested in next week's episode. I would tell you whose centric episode it is and what the name of it is, but I fear I would be spoiling. So, let me say this. If you remember what order people had Centric episodes in the beginning of season 1, then for the first 6 hours, it's going to be exactly the same. Charlie's was 7th, so that won't be happening!

Anyway, that's all I have to say for this week. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings as always and I will see you next week! NAMASTE!!!

Ending Credits

LOST Merchandise/Contests:

Check out Cafe Press's vast collection of LOST Merchandise - There are clothes and other exciting things. Some designed by fans, and some can even be designed by you if you want. Check out the site and stay tuned because we may have some exciting free give away contests. Make sure you follow me on Twitter too because I may run the contests from there.

Cafe Press also has a "Create your Own LOST T-Shirt Design" contest going on with prizes including a "We Have to Go Back" T-Shirt signed by the Season 6 CAST not to mention a grand prize of a trip for 2 to Hawaii!!! I'm no artist, but maybe some of you are. Check it out!

150 comments:

I actually enjoyed last night's episode a lot. Perhaps more than the premiere. That may be because I was adjusted to the Sideways Flash narrative, but I also found focusing on one character, much more cohesive.

If Claire has been taken by the darkness and is seemingly very Rosseau-ish - I'm wondering if Danielle was as well? Either way - Claire is alive, but did not flash with the other time traveling LOSTies. Was this because she was claimed/infected?

I agree with Liz for a Kate episode I enjoyed it. Kate may not be able to reunite Claire and Aaron in island world but she did in the flash sideways.

About Claire and the infection, I like your explanation but it seems too easy for Lost lol. They went out of their way to associate Claire’s traps to Danielle’s traps so that tells me Danielle had the sickness as well. But we never saw Danielle die and get claimed, perhaps it gets get spread by blood contact. Remember way back in season 1 when Danielle saved Claire from Ethan, Claire scratches Danielle’s arm and was infected than. Sayid was alive when they put him in the (bloody?) spring and now he’s infected with it. It’s possible lol.

If Claire has been infected and is now controlled by darkness, does that mean the only happy ending she could possibly get is in the flash-sideways? Perhaps that's the reason they introduced the new storytelling technique: they know we love these characters, but it can't end happily for them on the island. We'll see how it goes though!

Obviously this week's title is a play on "What Kate Did." Hopefully this doesn't count as a spoiler, but there's another episode later this season (possibly two) with a title based on a previous one. There seem to be a lot of connected titles on this show:

Nice Episode and good recap..I have a feeling that the "claimed" status is more similar to Ben than Daniel.Bed was a innocent backward kid who had an abusive father and had his issues... then he went to the fountain and ended up a mass murderer who killed and abducted many people, and was willing to sacrifice pretty much anything to preserve his ideology. Perhaps "The others" realized that Sayeed too could turn in to a Ben and wanted to kill him off before it consumes him.

I agree with Liz, I liked last night's episode. There was drama, action, comedy, and craziness!

I agree that Sayid was a wuss last night, but maybe that has something to do with the "infection".

As far as Jin asking where the plane crashed... Jack, Kate, and crew probably did explain that they appeared in 1977, but that they were flying in 2007. Maybe he assumes that they vanished from the plane as they were landing or something. Remember, he has not been speaking English that long (which brings up another point about how Jin knows English as well as he does now... but I won't get into that)

I loved it when Claire shot the two "templetons" (that is what my wife called them last night... and now when I typed that, all I can think of is "Templeton 'Faceman' Peck" of the A-Team)

Mike - what would she be testing Claire for??? I didn't say she was innocent. I just said maybe that's a direction they'll take the Flash Sideways instead of her actually killing someone.

anonymous...okay you got me on the 4 weeks. Sometimes I forget some months have a few extra days than 4 weeks and all of that. But I agree..the whole October thing just seems like a big detail to overlook. I'm sure Team Darlton will address in the podcast if it's a mistake.

stedman...good point about Kate "uniting" claire and aaron in the sideways timeline. I don't know if all hope is lost in the Island timeline as well...but we'll see. Same comments to Ian here. It is interesting to ponder no one having a good ending on the island but creating better lives for themselves in this alternate timeline. But these deja vus that the characters are having can't just be nods to their previous lives...i think something has to come of it.

Stedman, I think i already forget how i explained Claire's sickness lol I think i mentioned that maybe rousseau had it too though. But I think there has to be some kind of linking between the way Miles was looking at Claire and at Sayid...especially since Dogen said to Jack "the same thing happened to your sister" or something like that.

Ian, yep those are the "linked episodes" as far as i know. I have seen episode titles for many of this season but I forget them. Maybe I'll check it out later to see which you're referring to.

Thanks Rukshan! I think we have to remember that the water in the spring was probably different with Ben than it was with Sayid. Yeah, Ben has this uncanny ability to lie...but is he CLAIMED by anyone? I guess you could say that he is....which is why Jacob said "what about you?" before getting stabbed. I dunno....there has to be a reason Dogen said Sayid's situation was more like Claire's than anyone elses. And Claire is all acting like Rousseau....as stedman said...they went out of their way to show us that! But it could be another way to go with it with him turning into another Ben. We'll see!

Weasel - I wasn't talking about what was exactly said on camera with Jin and Kate. I'm just guesesing...they were there for a week or so...even in the van ride to meet sawyer...you would think they would have explained what happened. And Jin's english after 3 years is PERFECT so i don't see him misunderstanding. Are you thinking his english should NOT be that good? I would think after 3 years it would be a lot better. Maybe not as clear as English speaking Daniel Dae Kim does it, but still!

I cant STAND Kate, or Claire really, but this episode had enough other things to keep me interested..

IMHO the "sickness or Claimed" is an issue with what type of person they were BEFORE they died, thats why Smokey "killed" Echo instead of possessing him, as opposed to Locke and Claire..but notice that Locke and Claire are the GOOD ones, who did no wrong before the island..and he possessed THEM, thats why i feel in the end it will be MiB as the "good" guy (well at least the guy representing Free Will with Jacob representing destiny/non free will, notice he always has LISTS)

its hard to define "good and evil" as most people want to do in their heads, but i really feel in the end the show is about Free Will vs. Destiny and such (Echo chose to reject Free Will in the end, but had also "died" so he had to be "killed"..i think, i have to rewatch that eps)

Yeah, I think the producers are definitely being very vague about who is good vs. bad when it comes to Jacob and MIB. They said not to make assumptions based on White and Black. They also said that all serialized shows like this boil down to a battle of good vs. evil and season 6 will be figuring out which is which. Based on that comment alone, I would think by the end of this season we will know who "the good guys" are vs. "the bad guys" But like you said...the show is also exploring the Free Will vs. Destiny themes this season as well...well they always have but it's front and center in the final season. Should be interesting to see how it all pans out! Can't wait!

yeah, i just thought it was a weird piece of dialogue for Jin to ask Kate where the plane landed. Maybe he just needed to say something before he ran off lol

That's funny...Liam will probably be good in it but when I heard him say the signature line I just didn't quite buy it! But I think Bradley Cooper is the perfect Face...the district 9 guy a good Murdoch....and that UFC dude looks like a good BA (i never thought they'd find a Mr. T replacement!) Love how I know all these names! lol

According to Danielle, it was the rest of her team that was "infected" and not her. It seems like the confirmation of this played out when we witnessed Danielle almost murdered by her significant other. The darkness claimed the French Team, apparently as we are now led to believe it claimed Claire. The only "reincarnated" people on the island are all now linked to anti-Jacob (Christian, Locke, Goodspeed?), and Claire hangin' with Christian is not a god sign for her on-island status. Jacob's special cabin was revealed to have been compromised with the broken ash line, leading us to believe that Christian, Claire, and everyone else seen there recently may have questionable allegiances...

Yeah, my point was, maybe we got it backwards...maybe ROUSSEAU was infected and her crew was trying to kill her because of that. Why is Claire living like a crazy person in the jungle like Claire? The missing link here seems to be the "infection". It may not be once we see the next episode, but right now I think we're meant to be asking that.

as for the ash and christian, claire, etc.... yep, that's what seems to be the consensus right now. Whether or not allegiances to Smokey/MIB is good or bad....we still don't know.

Nice episode if not slightly off in terms of some of the odd "out of character" dialogue for some of our familiar characters.Great to see Dr. Ethan Goodspeed instead of Dr. Ethan Rom!I am more confused than ever in terms of this whole "sickness" thing on the island.Danielle and her crew - did they get sick or is she the sick one? This would put Charles Widmore's orders for Ben and Ethan to kill Danielle way back when in a whole new light.Did this infection have anything to do also with the vaccines that Kevin and Desmond had that were supplied to the Dharma Swan station?Richard Alpert did not refer to young Ben's reanimation in a way that would be "bad" for the intentions of the Others (whatever that may be!). In fact Ben has always been very loyal to the cause of the Others, although his nature was corrupted by the process. Not sure when Dogen is supposed to have begun being the leader of the Templars/ Templetons/Temple Others? Was this after Ben's and Locke's departure from the Island? Has Dogen been the Leader of the Templars for a good while? Sayid's behavior and dialogue in this episode seem so out of character but perhaps this is deliberate as this is no longer the Sayid we know.I have a feeling that our LOSTIES are each going to meet sad endings in the 2007 timeline that will illuminate the bizzaro 2004 timeline. Hurley's obvious red t-shirt may be a clue of impending doom! LOL!The little deja vu moments in bizarro 2004 are very cool to, so far - Jack, Kate and Claire have had them. Not sure if Sawyer had one when talking to Hurley on the flight.Where the heck are Rose, Bernard and Vincent in 2007?!

Jin's proficient English is funny when putting it in context of Jin's comments about Jacob's excellent Korean in Jin's and Sun's wedding flashback. I think both Jin and Sun are polyglots in that they pick up other languages fairly easily once they set their minds to it. A gift from Jacob? Who knows? LOL!

anonymous...thanks for the clarification...i caught that probably as you were reading it and fixed it! lol Although, I don't see the big difference between Food Court and Cafeteria...still funny either way!

dave...interesting on the language thing and Jacob's touch. lol I look at it this way....Jin learning english took a hell of a lot longer than Hiro on Heroes...so I think it's much more realistic! LOL

very good point with Ethan/Ben being tasked to kill Rousseau. Didn't even think of that!

As for Kelvin/Desmond..that was Dharma supplied Vaccine and we don't even know if it was real. But whatever it was was probably INCIDENT RELATED...right? They do talk about sick and infected though..so who knows???

as for all the losties meeting sad endings...i think i covered my thoughts above...definitely could happen but I want more info on these deja vus in Sideways land...and if it will somehow connect back to the Island versions of themselves. Probably not IF but WHEN it WILL happen and how lol

As for Dogen being leader of the templetons....definitely a good question and I would hope we get some clarification! He never claimed to be the leader of the OTHERS....but just "in charge of" certain people. I always thought there were 2 factions of others...so maybe we'll get into that in this final season.

Yeah it's more of a diagonal lol but it's not a past that the losties know of. It's a parallel storyline. And we do not know how far they will take it. Maybe it goes all the way to 2007. Doubtful but stranger things have happened! Lol

What really caught my attention was the circular themes...Rousseau loses baby, goes nutty -> ClaireBen was shot and brought to temple where he "changed" -> SayidSayid was tortured by Rousseau and DogenWhat else?

Ok I have a few thoughts... Its hard to explaion what point in time we'r in on the island even for the losties. But it doesn seem as thought Sawyer has a hard time finding teh darmville from the temple (which strikes me as odd). Then Kate finds him just as easily.... So we know a few things... we know that Sawyer's darmville house thats located in a rather large area of houses is NOT too far from the Temple which is also odd. If i was brought to a Temple and some how found a way out of that Temple and wanted to go back to my house in darmville, Im not sure id even know which way to turn, howveer he finds his way with no problem as does Kate. He couldnt have been there too long before kate showed up and saw him grabbing the box. In fact theres no light switching time now so its easy to see the same day light shinning. So the darmville houses were not only already unoccupied, is not only close to teh Temple, but its in te same time frama where we appear now. Then ofcourse we see Claire, Beautiful Claire who doesnt seem has aged too much, althought im sure looks may be decieving. lol, The old Chineese dude or Lennon or whatever his name was (the dude taht tortured Sayd) says to Jack, You;l be infected like your sister. hhhmmmm is it strange that he knows shit that Jack found out when off the island? lol, Im not sure if the writters of Lost would let for contiguity in this type of show, but these are the small scruffs I wonder if anyone also thought about. Get back, Id love to hear this. natassjja721@yahoo.com True Lost Fan1

I think this "infection" that seems to have got Claire and Daniel and may be Sayeed, seems to bother only "the Others" Daniel was happy to co-operate with the losties and I suppose Claire wont kill Jin. The "Others"that we saw in Season 1 were very Zombie-ish, walking in a line with the Whispering in the back ground.. may be this infection allows the infected person to see the evil side of the "others"why else would a infection suddenly make you an expert it laying out complicated traps..

This Flash Side ways keep reminding me of the MultiVerse theory. It says that all possibilities and outcomes occur at the same moment in multiple universes, and the feelings of Deja-vu that people some times have is caused by the mind skipping to parallel universes during sleep...or some thing like that.. I read that article ages ago.

Some more thoughts...it seems as though Jacob always appears as himself and all the ghosts we have seen over the years is the MIB.

So that means MIB told Locke to move the island. Setting off the time travel, throwing our Losties back in time. Was THIS the loophole? Jacob brought them to the island, MIB was unable to get the off so he sent them to another time. This set the wheels in motion so when the others returned some went back in time, but MIB was left unhindered to finally kill Jacob.

Jacob had his own plan in motion, however. I bet we'll see in another episode where it was Jacob who gave Faraday the idea to detonate the bomb. This brought everyone back to the present and is why Jacob said "They're coming".

So... Did Sayid get tested twice for the "sickness"? Russeau electrocuted Sayid after she captured him in the jungle. When this initially happened I thought she was torturing him... But...Now we see Dogen electrocuting Sayid to find out if he is infected. Will Claire test Jin? This is probably nothing, but I had to throw it out there!

Still not sure if we can assume "ALL" of the ghosts seen over the years are SMOKEY/MIB. Remember, Hurley can see Ghosts, and Jacob told him that was a gift....and Jacob also appeared to Hurley as a ghost. We have also seen 2 versions of christian shephard...one in his funeral attire (and sneakers)...and then the other version in more casual clothes...that version is the one that took Claire and the one that convinced Locke to leave the island. Of course....we also saw the SUIT/SNEAKERS Shephard inside the cabin in season 4...but it was when the cabin was moving all over the place. There are definitely some things they need to clarify between Jacob/MIB and Christian and who is who and who convinced who to do what! lol we can speculate and we're probably close...but I think I need a concrete answer somewhere in there!

Just rewatched the episode...on the big screen...looking at the sonogram pic...the top portion looks to say the same thing as the bottom...the TIME....and then the date 10/22/04....the thumb is covering up the 0/22/04 and most of the 1...but you can see it starting. RIGHT OR WRONG...the date of the sonogram says October 22....I have to imagine this is intentional.

Oh...forgot to mention in the blog about Aldo talking about the smoke monster...Pillar of Smoke making a taka taka sound....we're protecting you from that. Yeah...we already knew that which is probably why I didn't bring it up....but now Kate and Jin know that too.

natassja - i think we can assume that the OTHERS have lots of information on the LOSTIES. We don't know if they know that Jack found out about his sister OFF ISLAND. But I'm guessing they already knew the 2 were related. So we just skipped some narrative for the sake of the audience not having to relive it and Dogen just calls Claire..."Jack's sister".

Of course, I still want a scene where Jack and Claire are together and discuss their relation. Maybe faux Christian already has informed Claire.

oh...i thought of another thing...probably not the case but what if Christian's body was taken to the temple and put in the spring? Would it have been too late to do anything because he was already dead? That would be my guess....but I may as well throw it out there while I'm thinking of it! lol

anyway...i'm sure i missed some comments there but that is bound to happen!! :-) Keep up the great discussion!

As for the Others testing...I think he did pass the test. They were testing to see if he was Smokey, but maybe they have learned the price that is paid when someone returns from the dead after too long?

I also question whether the note actually said to save Sayid. Maybe it said to drown him.

it may have said that in the letter....but then why would they chance it by putting him in the "HEALING SPRING" or whatever we want to call it? I think the drowning is part of the process...hence the hourglass. But they knew there were risks because of the water being dirty.

Did anyone also notice how Justin referred to Jin as "ONE OF THEM" I thought that was pretty ironic since the LOSTIES always called the OTHERS the same thing. But....I guess we have to wonder what "ONE OF THEM" means.....it is the elusive "THEY" that Jacob talks about....but what is their purpose on the Island...what is the End Game!? Yeah, not new questions here...but always fun ones to bring back up!

Re: Walt - perhaps his apparition appearances to Shannon and Sayid where he appeared to be submerged in water or something may have a link to the sunken Island we in the season opener episode "LA X"?

Thanks for the Doc Jensen link - his observations regarding the links between events in this episode "What Kate Does" as well as Aaron's stuffed toy whale and the episode "Something Nice Back Home" are intriguing. My continued respect for the writers of this show if these indeed were intentional interwoven references!

Mike V. - Nice Blog .... great episode ... and my observations:- It seems like we're being set up for a contest between factions representing Jacob and MIB; but also that there are rules (MIB, or his faction, couldn't do harm to Jacob or his faction, but someone from within the faction could - e.g., Ben stabs , the blunted bullet, Richard's order not to shoot Flocke). Makes me wonder about the conversation Ben had with Widmore and the allusion to "the rules."

- technical point, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Jughead bomb is what blew up in the 1977 timeline; it was the Jughead's initiator - core, I think they called it. H-bomb's have an A-bomb core (nothing to sneeze at) that detonates and starts the fusion reaction and resulting big boom

- clearly we have to learn more about the cabin. Was it a place of imprisonment or refuge?

Mike, since you mentioned the baseball...there is a great essay or poem (I don't remember exactly) that paints baseball as a beautiful journey with the simple goal of leaving then fighting hard to get back "home". Something like this that I found on the net...Some people think that baseball is the best game because it is so elegant. The beautiful geometry of the field, the precision of the distances between bases, the wonderful journey from home all the way back home seems like a tale of adventure. It is a tale with excitement and danger, but none of the extreme violence of football and hockey or the in-your-face machismo of basketball. The winners are cool. And patient. A game is timeless, there’s no whistle at the end. Theoretically, a game can go on forever, so long as you don’t make the last out.Hmmm :)

thought on the cabin/ash. Maybe the cabin is where Jacob puts his "friends" to protect them against the MIB/Smokey. I don't really think that Jacob needed protection from MIB, as MIB could not kill him. However, the friends of Jacob that came to the island (Shadow of the Statue people) carried ash with them to protect themselves from the MIB/Smokey.

Very interesting baseball analogy.Perhaps the mention of the Red Sox and NY Yankees in more than one episode also tie into this?"It only ends once, everything else (looks to the sky) is progress..."

Kate experiencing "deja vu" seeing Jack in his black and white clothes and being cell 'phone (yet again) probably also references our own "deja vu" with the pilot episode and the surprise flash-forward season 3 finale where Jack was on the 'phone in several scenes.

Walt said season 1, that he was "the luckiest person alive" according to his Dad.Now the new flash-sideways Hurley says that on the plane.I have always thought that there was some untold story with Walt's mother - who died of a blood condition much like I think Christian Shepherd did? I am not sure if I am remembering the events surrounding Christian's death accurately.

''When a zombie is poked with a sharp object it does not feel any pain. While it behaves exactly as if it does feel pain (it may say "ouch" and recoil from the stimulus, or tell us that it is in intense pain), it does not actually have the experience of pain as a putative 'normal' person does.''

That would explain why Sayid was such a baby. The real Sayid would not have screamed like a little girl when tortured. But "zombie" Sayid reacted to the pain as most normal people would, hence it is not really Sayid. Dogen knows this about Sayid, hence he failed the test.

No apologies necessary...that's what the blog is here for . An outlet for all of our crazy thoughts!

Horseman...very interesting with the baseball analogy. You're really on that "it's all a game" kick right now! Now we're bringing baseball into it. Good times! Looks like Doug is on board too (thanks for the props on the blog btw doug!) I agree, we still need to learn about what these "RULES" are and who has to follow them!

i thought what they took out of Jughead was the bomb's core and the actual explosive device. But what you're saying sounds familiar too. I'm surprised I can't remember. I'll have to refresh my memory lol

John, hysterical on sunnyside down lol

Weasel...i've been doing the same back and forth with the Ash and can't make up my mind. Yeah Smokey was out and about....some people are resolving this with "2 smoke monsters"...i think that would be silly. But I also want to know how Jacob knew that Jin was at the Temple wall with the French Crew. Smokey was there...(supposedly the MIB)....but was Jacob there too? ugh...maybe i'm overthinking it.

as for the zombie stuff....maybe it's just the choice of words....but I think Darlton would never put Zombies on LOST since they so adamantly made fun of the concept on their podcasts and talked about Zombie Season 7 lol But yeah...i don't understand what's going on with Sayid or Claire...or whatever! I get what you're saying though..he wasn't acting like himself. But that's just it....the way Dogen was talking...it shouldn't have taken effect yet. Once the infection spreads THEN all that they remember of their friend Sayid will be gone. I guess Sayid being all whiny is the first step of the process though...and that's how Dogen knew. I mean...how else would the tests he performed have proven anything? LOL

I agree with Weasel and the others about Sayeed. Maybe he was acting out of character to get the point across that this may look like Sayeed but it is not Sayeed. And like Mike said,Dead is Dead. So the real Sayeed is dead.

If Dead is Dead and dead people can be infected, then that implies that Claire is also dead. I think. Assuming MIB is doing the infecting, why does he appear sometimes as dead people (Christian, Locke) and sometimes like what they thought was happening to Sayeed and what happened to Claire. And since the show has also implied that MIB appears at any one time as Smokey OR a dead person, I conclude that the infection is something else. God, I hope they're not introducing a third entity at this point (MIB, Jacob, Infectiony Thing).

Does anyone think it possible for a White smoke monster to make an appearance? Perhaps as Jacob's true or other form? Is Christian actually Jacob as Locke is actually the black smoke monster, or vice verse? There's something different about dead bodies arriving on the island and people dying on the island. what's that all about? I love it. I love all these speculations.

I think there is a white or bright monster of some sort that we haven't seen. John Locke saw it in season 1 or 2. It wasn't show to us but he described it as a bright light and beautiful.

The enhanced episode of "LA X" part 2 confirmed that the ash around Jacob's cabin was to keep the monster OUT. Since the ash ring was broken some time between Ben and John Locke's trek to the cabin and Bram and Ilana's journey there, I guess we can assume that UnClaire was with Smokey/ChristianInNewClothes! LOL! This show is crazy.

It everythings relative... The spring is some kind of natural healing spring thing... lol that rymed... lol, but yea and the body of Christian (jacks father) was or may have eneded up on the Island when the plane crashed. I mean it had to have turned up i think. Maybe he was at one point taken to the spring, but we do know that the last time Joh Locke saw Claire, she was sitting in the cabin with Christian. and stated "Im with Him" (looking all on it and shit) lol, but Everything srelative and things seem to colide in twines. Im still unsure about why the Temple is so close to where the Darmville was located and how sawyer and kate seem to know the island alot better than i thought, considering that kate also lived off the island for a bit. The initial plane crahs was suppose to be in 05 right? idk its confusingly amusing! But I love it!

i'm gonna say there probably is just the one monster...we've seen the monster show flashes of lights before. Maybe Locke encountered Jacob in season 1...but i'm inclined to think that smokey met up with locke and saw a potential "candidate" for his Loophole. A man that had a miracle happen to him and didn't want to leave the island. a man always looking to be special.....so SMOKEY showed a nice bright white light to him.....and then start initiating dreams and signals down the road to guide him to his end path. Maybe Jacob was involved with some of that but we'll just have to wait and see!

as for island navigation....yeah...they seemed to have taken many liberties with that stuff in the later seasons....less episodes in a season means getting to point b from point A a lot quicker! lol I think we just have to accept that! the plane crash was originally in September 2004 (the 22nd) Ajira landed in 2007 (maybe January 2008 but they don't really specify)

Did Rousseau get "cured" from her potential "claiming-ness" after she met up with her daughter again? Is that when she stopped acting strangely and started acting normal again?Maybe if Claire is reunited with Aaron, she will be cured as well?(Sorry if this was already discussed, I skimmed through all the comments and may have missed it!)

This show is like some type of crazy chess match between Jacob and MIB. Everyone on the island being game pieces. It is like moves are made to stay one step ahead of the other. It felt like to me Jacob knew he would be killed in the foot, but wheels had already been set in motion, "their coming he said" which makes me think he was ready for the next move and then he insist Hurley take Sayid to the temple. Does he know MIB has already infected him and know his templetons will kill him or is he thinking that they can save him for their side? Then if you look at everyone he touched, why would have brought Sayid, Locke to the island if he had known that they would be infected? Did MIB win that side of the game on the island or had Jacob already used them for his purposes? Another example of different moves is the different times he touched everyone. Hurly being right before the last flight and him carrying inportant information for Dogen. Why didnt we see Jacob touch a young chubby little Hurley at an all you can eat breakfast bar as opposed to an adult. It appears he had to get this crucial information to Dogen.

on another subject someone brought up about those infected staying in 2007 (Claire and maybe Christian)What about Sun and Ben? why did they stay in 2007? Ben went in the temple, Could Sun be infected like that? Crazy thought for a Crazy showI have to go now, My mother wants to clean my room in the basement! Ma,, More Meatloaf!!

I guess the dying Mr. Eko was correct in telling Locke and Sayid that "they were next". This was in season 3 when the smoke monster smashed Mr. Eko several times against trees and the ground. I guess MIB was REALLY frustrated and angry at Eko's seemingly stubborn unrepentant attitude at that moment??

Ok so I believe that the Ash is a boundary for the smokey. A line that he cant cross. Example, when ben takes locke to jacobs cabin, Ben abruptly steps OVER the ash sure not to break the line as does locke follows.Then we see the ash line again when you see jacobs cabin with a Broken ash line which leads to it being abandoned, not safe anymore, meaning it was exposed to the island where MiB (or smokey) could enter. Which leads to jacob taking cover in the statue. And the ash line could of been broken already when locke encountered christian and claire in the cabin, which would explain why christian is there (noting that smokey loves dead people) and why claire was acting all creepy. Saying Mib is connected with smokey, explaining all the random people (or ghosts) everyone is seeing on the island. (( Off note... hurley has a gift to see ghosts, but the person he saw, dave? I think was his name, wasnt a ghost but his imaginary friend.. ))You also see the ash line when the templetons are set in alarm and they then spread ash lines around, keeping the templetons in and safe, but 'smokey' out but if i remember correctly dogen or his translater said 'its to keep HIM out' which could be MiB..off note, Remember when rosseau took claires baby and went to the pillar of smoke to -give the baby in exchange for alex - well, When sayid and whoever else went there, there was no foot prints or anything, And rosseau wasnt able to do what she wanted cuz it wasnt smokey who took the baby in the first place, which could mean that rosseau was never infected. plus she was pregnant at the time when her friends all got infected, smokey wouldnt compromise her baby.. since babies are inoccent beings.ALSO there wasnt really any ash, but only a stone atop wood posts which would give that its not the others signal, its smokey which we recently found out.. But theory- Fire burns, which gives off smoke, but also leaves behind ash. It could be that ash is smokeys opposite? (lack of a better word) in a sense, it could be smokeys Weakness. WHICH in conclusion to what i wanted to say all along but got so into my theorys LOL, When dogen spread that Ash all over sayids body right before he tested him, the ash could have been representing a cage to keep it in? a way for the infection - which originated from smokey i think- to Stay in the body, so It couldnt leave his body while testing. So thats why sayid was all whiny, it wasnt him. Thats why he was asking those annoying questions "why are you doing this to me" blah blah, the infection(or smokey as i like to say) was telling them what smokey thought they wanted to hear from someone gettin tortured. But all along they knew sayid wouldnt cry about it knowing who he was before. Maybe there's a different test for everyone based on who they are?? to determine if they pass.

Sorry it's kinda long, im new to this blog, Just started watching Lost actually, I watched all the seasons the past 2 weeks and fell in love with it! such a good story, the writers are genius' Lol.

Interesting theory about the ash, Aray! Maybe the smoke/ash opposite thing is connected to the rule that MIB and Jacob can't harm each other. I've been wondering though, if that ash is some special kind of ash or if it's just plain old ash anyone could get from burning something.

The idea someone proposed earlier that Smokey infects good people and kills bad ones is interesting, but why have they made reference to Sayid's past as a torturer in these first two episodes? I would think he's "bad" enough that Smokey would just kill him. Of course, he spared Ben, but we know now it's because he needed Ben to kill Jacob. Maybe (as Mike suggested last week) Smokey's playing by his own rules now.

Good recap again Mike, just watched the episode last night. Gotta say, I wasn't too impressed!I suppose there is always the episodes that dont dont have the wow factor, but I guess I just thought for the last season they'd pull out all the stops! Ah well, heres hopin next weeks is a banger!

Must agree with you on the Sayid not acting himself, he was whining alot for army guy Sayid..I'm guesssing all the theories of Sayid's body being taken over by Jacob have to be ruled out if theyre now tryin to kill him! I'm also hoping for a return to the old Sawyer, he was much better as the wise cracking guy no one really trusted!I think Atrz was my favourite bit from the episode lol, "I'm walkin here!"

Rock - I said the same thing wondering about why Sayid would have to WILLINGLY take the pill. Maybe it was The OTHERS playing their silly games again.

Tiffy - interesting theory on reuniniting with children! Rousseau always seemed crazy but she seemed to be a little more normal in season 3...and this was when Kate had told her she had found her daughter....so maybe there is a connection there. Of course...Claire seemed perfectly content with Christian in the cabin to not be with Aaron. who knows what is going on!? But i want some answers STAT! LOL

HurleyAteMe - yep, i think WHEN Jacon touched people is significant. Not sure if they'll spell it out for us or leave it for us to figure out. But I think finding out exactly what Jacob's Touch does..may help lol As for Sun/Ben not going back to 1977...The producers say they will not explicitly state why this happened...but there will be enough information by the end of this season to figure it out for ourselves. We'll see!

Dave...good call on the "YOU'RE NEXT" comment. Of course...Desmond was there too. lol I always thought smokey was talking to Locke specifically. Yeah...maybe Sayid too but I think LOCKE was the key there.

As for the ASH stuff...I think i have stated just about as much as I can about the circle of ash and either keeping MIB in or out of the cabin premises. That is, until we get more information! We can keep theorizing but there are just too many variables out there! lol Aray...welcome to the blog!!

As for the Black Smoke in season 1...I think Rousseau created that smoke HOPING that the others would come and exchange Alex for Aaron. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong. Rousseau heard whispering that they "are coming for the boy" ....and it turned out it was WALT they were coming for. Supposedly when Ben/Ethan took Alex there was black smoke as well...but they didn't show it last season when they gave us that scene. As for Hurley's imaginary friend DAVE, yeah we don't know what's up with that. but it's a good point bringing him up with hurley seeing ghosts. Remember...Jacob told Hurley he's not crazy...maybe Jacob or someone was involved with Hurley seeing dave in season 2. I always saw a connection between Libby being in the institution and her dead husband's name being David....so maybe it DOES make sense that hurley would be seeing DAVE??? I don't know.

Ian..thanks for referencing my ROGUE SMOKEY concept LOL We'll see how true it is. If it is indeed smokey/mib that claimed Sayid....maybe he needs him alive because he is part of his master plan to "go home" whatever that is.

Thanks for the props Peter! I think it was Doc Jensen that said that the writers usually tone things down after the premiere episode to get us used to a slower PACE. The producers have said everyone will be expecting non-stop adrenaline episodes to give us answer after answer...but that wouldn't stay true to the form of LOST. So they're ending the show just like they started it. Through Character-driven plot. I'm not complaining...i know it's all setup for some big stuff!

Yeah...and I forgot to reference that Arzt was quoting a line from the movie Midnight Cowboy "I'm walkin here...i'm walkin here!" Probably because I never saw it...but i've definitely heard the line before! LOL

Ye, forgot that was a line from midnight cowboy, didnt think of it at the time. I always think of that a s a real new york phrase for some reason lol.On the whole, Sayid having to take the pill willingly. I have a feeling they just said that to set up the whole Jack pretending to take it, so they could go DUM DUM DUM "poison". And its nothing more than that. Could be wrong, but thats my gut feeling!

I think the Sayid taking the pill willingly has something to do with the whole "free will or no free will" game or whatever it is that Jacob and MIB are involved in. MIB told Jacob's henchmen that they can choose to leave since Jacob was dead. They opted not to. Ben had a choice to kill Jacob or not. He chose to kill. Maybe Sayid willingly choosing to take the poison has some effect on the potency of the poison against whatever has claimed/infected his seemingly resurrected body? Perhaps it scores some game points for them (the Templetons) in this game of chess or baseball going on? LOL!Like you said it is probably another red herring!*********************************On another note Charlie Pace sacrificed himself in a selfless act of heroism for the other LOSTIES but doesn't seem to have faired any better thus far in the bizarro 2004 timeline! He did seem pretty sober though in his very physical apparition to Hurley early in season 4.

Hey guys, just a quick promotion here for Cafe Press. I added this to the blog posting. They are having a contest to design your own LOST T-shirt with some cool prizes including: 5 Winners will get a "WE HAVE TO GO BACK" t-shirt signed by the season 6 cast (i noticed Richard Alpert is missing but most of the core cast is there)! The grand prize though is a trip to Hawaii! Check it out!

BTW...I'm still working with Cafe Press to get a Free T-shirt Give-away. If I do end up doing a contest for the fabulous Lost Addicts Blog readers, I'll probably utlize Twitter to track who is in the contest. So be sure to follow me there as well as stay tuned here! @LOSTAddictsBlog

Okay...I like the concept of some "theoretical" GAME being played. But when we start talking about racking up points and there being a winner with a grand prize (no pun intended with the former post about T-shirt contests lol)....then I have to draw the line! LOL I game of WITS between Jacob and MIB....even the two of them just having fun at the expense of jack and crew is fine with me. But a VIDEO Game where you are collecting coins and ever 100 equals a 1-up? NAAAAAA...that would be kinda silly!

Obviously I'm exaggerating and get your point David...and yes it could be another free will/destiny thing. But I'm sticking with Red Herring! LOL

I know that this has been touched on, but 'Lostpedia' clearly states the date on the ultrasound pic is 10/22/04, and it's an error. But I'm not sure if I believe it or not, SEEMS LIKE A PRETTY BIG ERROR. Anyway- great re-cap agian MIKE!!! And great discussion to all! I wanted to bring up the point of Mr. Eko saying "You're next", I've always kinda wondered if Locke wasn't 'taken over' by Smokey prior to be killed by Ben. Like even the 1st time, when Ben shot him in the pit-thing, I wonder if he was already Smokey, maybe? Oh- and Kate & Sawyer. I'm not sure what's going to happen, I'm the one that would love her being with either, as I love both couples together, her with Jack or Sawyer, but last night when she was crying & junk, like, I think she realized that Sawyer truly loved Juliet, and she was maybe giving up at the point?

Oh yeah...i forgot to mention...Greg Nations (LOST's Continuity Expert on the staff) apparently posted on The Fuselage's website that 2 of the numbers in 10/22/04 are correct and one isn't...then he said "any guesses which one is incorrect?" I think he was just messing around and most people are just saying that it should have been September. Like I said...if it turns into a really big issue...I think team darlton will confirm that it's an error or not an error on the podcast.

Thanks for the props on the blog "can't think of anything"!!

yeah...there have been rumors to whether LOCKE had been impersonated by Smokey before...or inhabiting him or whatever. Even the face that Locke made in the early season 1 episodes before they cut to the LOST title (was that Tabula Rasa? right before the Walkabout episode?) It was super creepy... But i think that was all to provide a certain mystery around the characer.

You bring up a good point though about him getting shot in the DHARMA grave... WHO WAS WALT??? The Smoke Monster seems to be able to take the appearance of dead bodies that are on the island. But Walt was neither on the island nor dead. We do know walt is having weird island dreams though...and maybe this plays a part?

it's quite possible that Kate is giving up on sawyer...but based on team darlton..he said the writers have been very invested in jack/kate/sawyer love triangle storylines this season...so I think we're going to see a bit more about it in BOTH timelines lol We'll see what happens!

Maybe it's as simple as Smokey cannot kill, only "infect", those that Jacob has "touched". For all we know he touched Rousseau too; she somehow found the island after all. Or maybe the Shepard's are special and can only be infected. Maybe Rousseau is a Shepard too. That's a lot of maybes!

Great summary, Mike. Thanks again for your work to create this space for us to discuss the show!

Despite some huge holes in the Kate LA X reality, I enjoyed this episode for the character-development and the new info they are dripping us in our Lost IV drip. It was great to see Claire make her return. Not sure yet what to make of the darkness claiming people, but I'm very intrigued. A few comments I have:

-Lennon is really the one in charge, over Dogen, as described in the casting call for his character: "He is... far more powerful than it seems from his position..."

-I know this is not a new point, but it seems so clear that the core theme of this show is not Good/Evil. It's about the delicate balance between fate/free will. And probably faith/reason. It seems that the people associated with Jacob have some sort of rules about free will. (Ben to Jack in s.2 - I want you to want to heal me; Dogen to Jack - Sayid must take the pill willingly; Jacob telling Ben he has a choice before killing him, etc.) Something about Jacob is all about Free will. He requires his people to allow others' their free will, possibly in order to prove that people change of their own volition?

Or do his "rules" state that in his game, the key players must make their choices via freewill? How all that fits into his touches and seemingly manipulation of people's lives, I don't know.

-I do feel close to certain though that this show is moving towards a finale where the survival of the entire world will be at stake, something related to the valenzetti equation and the numbers. And the fate of the world will rest on our Losties free will choices.

I am more convinced than ever now that the ash around the cabin was there to keep Smokey OUT, and Jacob safely in. Seems so obvious after re-watching The Incident. Jacob goes to see Ilana in the hospital. The next scene shows Ilana's group arriving at the cabin with the coffin. Ilana goes in and comes out and states: "He's not here anymore." Doesn't seem like there is ANY chance that she was going to see Smokey at the cabin. She was going to see Jacob! Bram then comments that they know where to find him, after seeing the graphic of the statue on the cloth left at the cabin. So to me, there is one mystery SOLVED! It was Jacob in the cabin, and at some point the ash was broken, and Jacob moved to the Statue.

WHEN however, is still a mystery. I still believe that when Claire went with Christian (the first post-white-shoes Christian) was the first time that Smokey could get into the cabin. And that (probably) Walt appearing to John when he was lying in the dharma grave that he "still had work to do" was his call to go back to the cabin to break the ash.

The one hole in this belief is -- it does not make sense that the man who told Locke to "help me" was Jacob. Seems much more likely to be Smokey at that point. So maybe the ash was broken before that? But then why would Darlton show us the unbroken ash when Ben & Locke first went to the cabin. Ahhhh, mysteries! I will cherish them this year, knowing this will all be over in a few months.

One final comment. I'm guessing you've discussed this before, but: Is it possible Claire has been dead and/or claimed since the bomb from Keamy's group exploded at the Barracks? In particular because of what Miles said shortly after the bomb. When Sawyer asked Claire how she was doing, she replied "I will live". And then Miles said "I wouldn't be too sure about that"! What the heck was that about?

I think this is a good question to revisit now that we have been told that Claire has been "claimed." It just seems that Miles has some sort of ability to pierce the sickness, or something to that effect. He was looking at Claire weirdly right before Christian showed up and took her with him. Also, Miles has acted weirdly around Sayid since he died.

Ian - It would make sense if the ash was some sort of special ash, because if it was any ol' ash u got from your campfire.. that would just seem unrelevant to all the secrets of the island, if smokey can be stopped with a lil campfire. But maybe the templetons have a special fire that they keep going throughout there generations.. and they use the ash from that, seeing as that fire (if its there) would be 'sacred' .You know, its kinda weird now thinking about the whole smokey vs. templetons thing. I mean we know where smokey resides, underneath the temple/wall, then why are they living right by smokey?!? Is smokey a sacred being of an ancient time?? I think theres a huge secret about mr. smokeskies we dont know about.It makes me think that smokey is the leader, the king of the island.. he gives judgements? Allows people to 'live' (ben) and ben made it quite clear he HAD to go and be judged by SMOKEY, not even saying he had to see jacob at all, taking he was supposedly answering to him when he was leader of the others. So is smokey higher that jacob or MiB ?You know how before ben took locke to see jacob, ben mentioned everyone has someone they answer to.. so does jacob & MiB answer to smokey? Oh another thing, Ben being able to SUMMON smokey in his little secret tunnel tomb thing under his house... .. ???!?!??you know... smokey not having sides would seem like the answer, doing as he pleases, being a Security for the island, doing judgements, giving orders (example, letting ben see alex and her telling him to do WHATEVER locke says or else). It would make sense tho.. just think about it, since i believe mr. smokeskies has been their since the birth of the island.. sooo smokey is the culprit! aHA Idk BUT they better give smokeys story in this finale! i think it is due time for a lil SMOKEY flashback. LOL

In the season 4 episode "The Economist", Locke, Sawyer, Charlotte, a handcuffed Ben and company are trekking through the jungle. When they arrive at the place where Jacob's cabin used to be, Locke finds the gray ash substance on the ground that was there on his first visit, but there is no trace of the cabin. When Locke is asked what they were looking for, Ben makes a smug remark that Locke was looking for someone to tell him what to do next.

One more thing about ben being able to summon mr. smokers, remember when he summoned him the second time to be judged and said he would be outside.. but smokey never came, and be said "he doesnt always come when summoned" but he came the first time when summoned because the others where in danger and he came to protect them, so smokey does 'love' them.. awww lol but he doesnt answer to them, they answer to him.

maybe jacob has the ash line because he betrayed smokey in the past by bringing that ship to the island when obviously he wasnt really suppose to.. so maybe thats why MiB killed him, for opening the island to outsiders and betraying the islands sacredness. and MiB is smokeys only true right hand in his work.makes me think, They are the gooood guys.... lol okay im farely taking up a lot of comment space, im done for now :)

alright i lied, i just had a major thought about the whole 'special fire' i talked about. You know the fire in the room under the statue with jacob? well i found a picture and its loaded with ash all round the sides.http://tinypic.com/r/10gxjwy/6

I believe this could be the infamous ash that they've been using to ward off smokey.. it seems i answered my theory.. lolbut what do u think?

I Love Lost and am so happy that I will be getting some answers. I love reading the blog and comments. It really helps me to process the show.

Here are a few questions and thoughts I had.

Why doesn't Miles just say, "I see a dead person"? That could clear a few things up.

What's Jarrah?

Is the transition music the same for every episode? It sounds kinda like Smokey's chains rattling

I thought they were "testing/torturing" Saiyd to see if someone would come out. I was waiting for Jacob or the MIB.

I think Dogen has been a leader for a while. He said he speaks Japanese to keep himself separate because he has to tell people what to do, that they might not like.

If the Iliana group is with Jacob and the Others are with Jacob why wasn't Darmaville (when it was occupied by the others) protected by a giant ring of ash?

Ok, here is my big wondering. It doesn't fit all the scenarios perfectly, but I gotta try.

Miles tells Hurley that you can't change the future. What ever happens,happens. Now we see a flash sideways (2004), but what happens in 2007, happens and can't be changed. All the happenings in sideways 2004 will eventually and inevitably produce the same 2007 outcome.

All the players have to come back to the island (sideways 2004 and current 2007) because they haven't finished playing out the scenario/future that is already set. That's why it's been so important for everyone to come back.

I think that maybe they are on a loop. Going round and round. That explains the deja vu. Flight 815 has already been on the island over and over. That's how the Other's know so much.

When Ben killed Jacob, Jacob seemed willing to die. Could there be a similarity to the fact that Sayid had to 'willingly' take the poison? Maybe (if Jacob is in Sayid's body) Sayid's body is not an adequate host for Jacob which was figured out by the Templetons when Sayid didn't pass the test. Now Jacob needs to move to another body, but can only do so willingly. I bet that when we first met Jacob that he was simply in a host body.

And... could this be tied-in with the need to hurry-up and bury bodies on the island so that the Templetons don't get a chance to test to see if the recently dead person is an adequate host body for Jacob?

I think it's the other way around. In my opinion they hurry up to bury (or even burn, like we saw them doing with Colleen in season 3) their bodies to prevent someone (who- or whatever that may be) to 'claim'/'possess'/.. them.

Btw Anonymous, a few answers to your questions: * Miles doesn't see dead people, he hears their latest thoughts (the ones they had prior to dying)* Jarrah is Sayids last name* Dharmaville was protected by the sonic fence, the smoke monster couldn't get passed it (but I do wonder how it comes that our losties could get over the fence, but the smoke monster doesn't)

wow...crazy amount of comments! Thanks everyone for the props...I'll try to respond to as much as I can. But I think some things have been answered already (Thanks carolinski on the Jarrah thing...that was an easy one! lol)

Miles actually "FEELS" dead people's last thoughts. Bizarre, I know...and the one thing that never made sense after we found this out was his first flashback where he was talking to the ghost asking where he hid the money. Did he FEEL that one??? weird.

the dead bodies...yeah i'm reading the same thing about burying them....but don't forget the others sending them out to sea too. It would make sense if this was Smokey related. Because Yemi wasn't buried (at least not at first)....Christian is missing from the coffin (so we still don't know what that's about)...Locke was brought back to the island....etc...

i forget who brought it up, maybe Glenn, but good point on the casting call for Lennon. Perhaps he does have more authority than it seems.

Speaking of Glenn, welcome over from Gather to the Flagship Blog! lol (but keep clicking that Gather link even if you don't read there! More pageviews the merrier..thanks guys!) The producers are actually saying that all mythological serial stories boil down to a battle of good and evil and they hope we like THEIR version of it....so to say that's not what this is may not be exactly right. But they are also saying that Destiny vs. Free Will has always been a central component to the show and will be a very big theme this season.

Like I said...I'm done with the ASH until I get more info! lol But whoever brought up the Enhanced LOST that it was definitely to keep Smokey out. THANKS! That is MORE information! lol Of course, I'll trust it when it's on the show more than the enhanced lost!

Glenn, your last question...i actually brought up that whole thing in the blog post right after Dogen tells Jack "it happened to your sister!!" I started pondering what we have seen of claire since that event...and how Miles reacted to her ever since that dharma house exploding. So yeah...we can't rule it out!

dave..thanks i was going to bring up the ash not moving too (even though i'm done talking about the ash!! lol) so the cabin moves around but the ash always has stayed in one place.... maybe ever since the cabin was moving, smokey has inhabited it. because it is outside of the SMOKE. eh...i dunno!

yikes that's a lot of comments to respond to! I'll try to do more later...but I forgot I had a meeting in 4 minutes! multiple meetings..all day! yikes...have fun discussing folks..i'll try to catch up later. NAMASTE!

Hey :) New to the forum usually just an observer but I have a question. I am re-watching season 1 because I have realized that I forgotten an awful lot and things make a lot more sense now :) Does anyone think there might be some signifigance to Boone dying and Aaron being born at almost the exact same time? Just wondering If I am the only one.

Also I think Sayid willingly taking the pill is part of "the rules". Even if you have to con him into it as long as he takes it willingly. There was another comment made in Season 1 about someone needing to be willing.

just thoughts :) Thanks for supplying my "crack" fix. I can't get enough of other people thought

Hi Tania! Welcome to the other side of the blog. Commenting is addicting and it just takes one post to get addicted! I think the significance of Boone's Death/Aaron's birth was within the episode itself....even the name of the song that played (and is a constant theme whenever someone dies on the show)...is called "life and death" It just made for a good story that even though someone has died, there is new life. As for the significance to the overarching mythology of the show? I don't know. I guess we could find out if in the Flash Sideways that Aaron is born and Boone dies again....then maybe it IS important lol or just DESTINED to happen.

You could be right about the rules... i know with Christian he could get involved with helping Locke turn the donkey wheel...he only could show him the way. If it was Smokey...then this makes sense because Smokey couldn't kill Jacob himself...he had to get Ben to "willingly" do it. But are Dogen and Lennon following some sort of rules too? They can't give Sayid the pill themselves or they'd interfere with something? definitely an interesting thought!

No problem on the LOST FIX....I get just as much enjoyment from everyone else's discussion on the blog than I do writing the recap!

Mike V - Im done talking about the ash, i frankly stated everything i had to say on that, i just needed to get all my 'theorys' out, ya kno? lol

But i would like to know your thoughts on my theory about smokey being higher than MiB and jacob and how they possibly have to answer to smokey ?

carolinski - About the bodies having to be buried right away so they dont get claimed or possessed.. Well what about all the dharma folks that died? They got thrown into a pit but they were never actually "buried", so how does that come into play? Why arent they're dharma people appearing everywhere (except horus in lockes dream.. but that was a dream.. so it doesnt count as much lol)

Aray, sorry, I must've missed that part! But i totally hear you about getting your theories out!

I guess my philosphy is...this is the final season. The SEASON of ANSWERS. If Darlton are going to go on Jimmy Kimmel and tell us that we found out the Man in Black is the Smoke Monster.....I'm thinking that the "man in black IS the smoke monster!" lol Now, we may need a back story on the man in black and how he became this entity....and I think we all sure would love to see that story! But I don't think they want to add further complication by having Smokey be the boss and Jacob and MIB both reporting to it. It would definitely lessen the scene from the season 6 premiere with smokey wreaking havoc and then Flocke saying "i'm sorry you had to see me like that!" And, well, that scene was AWESOME! lol

So...that's my thoughts! But it's still an interesting perspective and you never know what these crazy writers have in store!

I actually really liked that episode. I thought it was pretty interesting, and I love seeing Claire back!

i was thinking that maybe if you have a near death/death experience then thats when the darkness has the ability to "claim" you. Since Claire, Sayid, Locke, and Christian each either died or had a near death experience they each had the ability to be "claimed".

So should we now conclude that Mikhail was 'claimed' and that is how he seemingly had multiple lives. I also wonder now, does Jacob claiming you mean you can't die until your work is done (ala Michael)?

And I like Dogen, but I am confused how he could stick his open wound hand into the water and not be claimed, if that is how smokie got to Sakid. Unless he didn't keep the hand in the water the entire timer time, or maybe smokie doesn't infect you from the water. How DID Sayid become infected? Time travel while wounded? Shot by Dharma, dipped in Smoke bullets? What did it to him, his repentance?

Some excellent discussion going on the last few days here, I've missed it.

I have to be out of town for a week, and will be without LOST for the entire time. AND without internet to even read blogs nonstop. I will be glued to the TV when I get back,and then to the computer for a few days.

hilda i just read your post about danielle testing sayid. i am pretty sure that she was just torturing him though, because she was trying to get him to tell her where her daughter alex wasv(she thought he was an other)

I've been meaning to say, as a huge baseball fan I'd love it if Dogen had some connection to the Great American Pastime, which is extremely popular in his home country. Maybe we'll get a Dogen-centric episode that reveals he was a ballplayer? I know, it seems unlikely, but it'd be fun if it happened.

Ian, I made a similar comment in the blog....a joking comment, but a comment all the same! lol I read jokes somewhere that maybe he's Ichiro's long lost cousin or brother lol

Mary...interesting thoughts on near death experiences. Only thing is that I wouldn't include Christian in that group. He was most definitely dead, like locke, when he came to the island. I think someone had commented earlier and I forgot to discuss it.....we still don't know how Christian died. They talked about heart failure or something like that. We know he was on quite a bender. But there was a key moment when Jack went to Christian's hotel room and his wallet was there. "Who leaves a wallet?" Jack asks. I have always thought uncovering how Christian died would be a key element to the story. And I'm hoping we still see it in season 6.

Jennifer...I don't think Mikhail had multiple lives....there was an explanation for how he survived the sonic fence (the fence wasn't set to a lethal level....just like in season 5 when Amy took down Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Faraday and Jin. As for in the finale when he got shot with a harpoon and then was outside with the grenade...i think it became more humorous to the writers than anything...like "this guy just won't die!!" I think the only mystery left with mikhail would be if that glass eye belonged to him! I'm not sure about Dogen being "claimed" by the waters and Sayid being claimed. But remember...they did keep sayid submerged for a long time...with that whole hour glass thing. Dogen just put his hand in briefly. But I'm thinking "claiming" someone is a more extensive process than just touching dirty water! But i really don't know! Good luck with no LOST or Internet! It'll be like Christmas when you get back!!

anonymous...really good call with the 3 days to the temple. I think i made a similar comment in the blog but not with any memory of what Ben said. I think we have to sacrifice LOGIC in these later seasons so that they can tell their story in the shorter episode seasons. in seasons 1 through 3...they had 23-25 hours a season...so they spent multiple episodes to carry out a storyline of traveling from point a to point b. And now in season 6...they can get from the temple to the barracks in 20 minutes of episode time lol We don't know for sure that it didn't take 3 days for them to travel and we just didn't see it. But probably more likely...they are just hoping we don't notice...and if we do...that we'll let them slide! lol It happens with all TV shows...take 24 for instance...everything is supposed to be in real time...but they sure get around more quickly now than they did in season 1!

I know you're done with the ash, but...I always thought it was awefully white for ash. Like maybe it wasn't ash but crushed stone (wanted to type very small rocks-to prove she's a witch) from the rest of the statue?? Like maybe the statue was formerly used to hold someone in before it was destroyed. Also, didn't Richard show young Locke the things that belonged to him and one was a jar of what could be statue leftovers? But its probably just ash.

Also struck by the name Dogen. I tried to make some anagrams or codes to find out what the name might mean. Then I saw Wikipedia has an interesting page on him and Dharma/budism. All the different Temples he lived in.Interesting real people from history like John Lock, Rousseau, D. Hume, Lennon, and now Dogen.

Agreed David, the fallon stuff was good...the score was a good time too....even the "imitation" LOST score at the end lol

Pharmer, just because I'm done talking about the ash doesn't mean you guys have to stop! I usually get sucked back in anyway! lol I was just saying that I have explored both angles of the MIB in Cabin and out of cabin scenarios and decided I needed more information before creating a theory! That's a good point with the jar of ash...i think you're right. I'll have to check that episode again or at least the blog! Interesting theory with the statue remnants..that could be. But then i'd be interested to know how MIB could even enter the FOOT of the statue!

yeah...i did get some comments on Dogen's name on the GATHER write up too....I'm not sure why I didn't bother to google his name....there is always some significance in the naming!

btw...just looked up the blog for cabin fever and there is a picture. it's definitely a bottle of sand!

Great recap as always...I agree that Danielle might have been infected and the team needed to kill her...Also I think the mirrors are a huge part because we saw Kate look into the mirror and exprience some sort of Deja vu and also Jack on the plane...Its kind of ironic Kate went in there to "change" maybe she did?...The shot of the sonagram was done intentionally they zoomed right in on it...But why 10.22.04??

Jughead never blew up. Whatever happened, happened. Jack etc. didn’t change anything from how it always happened. Otherwise, what are we to believe happened the “first” time around, the time that they all went back in time and didn’t blow up Jughead? We know they went back in time and that in 2007 their Dharma recruit photo is still up on the wall at the Barracks. So this is still the same timeline in which they went back and lived in Dharma 70s, the same timeline in which Oceanic 815 crashed, and the same timeline in which the Swan station’s still been built. So if we’re to believe that in this timeline, they didn’t blow up the bomb, what did they do and where did those people go? The same Jack Shephard who dropped a thermonuclear device into a hole in 1977 has reappeared along the same timeline but 30 years later. So what happened to the Jack Shephard who supposedly didn’t drop a bomb down a hole? Answer is: such a man never existed. To me, this means that the “alternate” timeline, is not a result of them having done anything “different”. The two major mysteries introduced this season are 1: what is this alternate/parallel/other timeline? and 2: How/why/when did the island sink? We've been led to believe and did a good job of convincing ourselves that the answer is that they blew up the bomb and changed the past and this alternate reality where the island has sunk is the result. I now believe that that is all completely wrong.

I think this makes sense. One major thing I can’t work into this is why Richard Alpert told Sun he saw them all die. Did he just think they died because they all vanished around the site of where the real incident, an event involving electro-magnetic energy, occurred?

I hope there’s a moment down the line where it is revealed that Jughead was always a dud.

Perhaps the mirrors have something to do with the "Through the Looking Glass" Lewis Carroll literary references that have popped up in LOST?

Richard Alpert's dialogue throughout the 3 season he has been on LOST has been frequently VERY ambiguous and sometimes untruthful. - Telling Juliet he did not remember her saying anything about her ex-husband getting hit by a bus- Telling Sun that he saw the friends she mentioned die in 1977. As far as we know he has never met Jin or Hurley.- "I am this way because of Jacob" - does this necessarily mean that Jacob made him this way?- Flocke says to Richard "I am beginning to think that you make up these rules as you go along".- Ilana asks Richard/Ricardus "who is in charge?", next moment Ben exits the statue and begins a sentence "Richard..."- The Dharmaville fence can keep Smokey out but not Richard.- Strangely knocked out Eloise under the pretext of protecting his leader. Was this so that she wouldn't interfere in the actions of the Oceanic LOSTIES?- Seemed shocked that Flocke wanted to "take care of" the remaining Ajira 316 survivors but did not flinch in exterminating the Dharma Initiative in "the Purge"! Etc. etc.Is Richard Alpert a puppet master hiding in plain sight??

Lockab, I agree that things probably happened as they always have happened. I'm pretty certain that the LOSTIES always traveled back in time and participated in the incident. As for Jughead not blowing up, don't know about that one. All we know are there are 2 timelines...one that we have been watching all along, and another one where the island is underwater and it happened some time during DHARMA times (the shark, dharmaville are seen on the island) I'm sure we're going to find out about the bomb and what submerged the island. So I guess we just have to be patient! The reason I think the bomb did go off...or at least SOMETHING happened with the bomb is because the folks who worked at the swan hatch eventually wore RADIATION suits....and the hatch door was marked QUARANTINE on the inside. To go further...Daniel Faraday had asked (in the CONSTANT) if Desmond had ever had exposure to Electromagnetism OR Radiation (what if he had exposure to BOTH??)

David, nice list of RICHARD moments. I don't want to disprove your theory of Richard hiding things and possibly being a puppet master. It's a good one! I just wanted to point out one thing. Richard didn't act like he didn't know what Juliet was talking about. He acted STUNNED that Juliet would THINK that Richard had something to do with her ex-husband's death.

Okay, now my turn! lol I watched the enhanced version of LA X part 2. They insinuate that the ash was meant to keep smokey out of the TEMPLE. They never say out of the cabin. They insinuate it by stating that Ilana pointed out that the ash was broken which allowed Smokey to take over the cabin. So, we just don't know WHEN it was broken. This is where we get into the endless loop of discussion lol It looked complete in season 3 when Locke/Ben went there. Yes, we didn't see the whole circle. We know the cabin was moving all around the island in season 4. So maybe the ash line was broken right after Ben and Locke were there? We see the circle of ash in season 4 but NO cabin when Locke brings half of the 815ers there. And in Cabin Fever, we never see the ash...we have to assume Smokey has taken over at that point which would make Christian an incarnation of Smokey...and Claire "claimed" by him. There was also a theory of Christian in 2 different outfits representing something. Maybe one was a ghostly figure the other not. We do see Christian in the suit and sneakers when hurley spots the cabin in season 4. So who knows???? I'm totally LOST on this. And It's extremely comical that I keep saying I'm done discussing it but keep bringing it up!!! lol

Okay one more thing....and disregard anything illogical about what I'm about to say...because time travel and alternate timelines confuse the heck out of this statement. Remember when Richard visits Locke and asks him which of these things belong to you (have always belonged to you)....Child Locke picks up the knife. Now, think of Timeline X where Locke has lost his case of knives and Jack has lost the coffin with his father in it. Is it possible that these things were transported to the Island in another timeline and another time???? yikes... Might that suggest how Christian Shephard appeared to Locke in the way far past when he turned the wheel? Yikes....I have gone and confused myself, but I still thought it was an interesting angle to take it!

Deebo...missed your comment! Thanks for the props! The mirror thing is a very nice catch. I'll have to check those scenes out again!

As for the 10-22-2004 thing....Greg Nations (master of continuity for the LOST crew) has stated that this was an error. But he still kind of left it ambiguous by stating that 1 number is incorrect and 2 are accurate. Unless, i see anything on the show to convince me differently....i'm going to guess supposed to say 9-22-2004 LOL

I had the same thought about the Richard "test" with Locke and the missing box of knives as well as Christian appearing to Locke by the donkey wheel in whatever year (during the time shifts) that was supposed to be! LOL!

Regarding the Richard Alpert theory, I disagree with you on the scene he had with Juliet and Ethan. Juliet specifically said that she had only been joking when she talked about the bus. Richard said he had no recollection of her saying that.

Also Richard did "nudge" Locke in the direction to kill his con-man father by giving him the file on Sawyer and his con-man hunt issues. Plus the dude sure knows how to start fires!

I think the "Black Rock" was a British vessel or at least it sailed out of Britain according to the auctioneer at the auction Charles Widmore and Desmond Hume were at.

Wasn't the ship captain's last name Hanso or something?

Horace Goodspeed didn't seem to know anything about the "Black Rock" when James LaFleur (Sawyer) told him that he and his friends (the time jumping LOSTIES) had been on an expedition to find the wreck of the "Black Rock".

Was Horace lying or was there no wreck of the "Black Rock" in that 1974 reality??

Someone correct me if I am wrong but when Flocke says to Richard "So good to see you, out of those chains" - is Flocke referring to Richard being in chains or to himself (whoever the original persona of this entity) having been in chains the last time he and Richard had a face to face conversation?The smoke monster makes that mechanical sound that sounds like chains being dragged on rough ground amongst many other things.Perhaps this dude/creature or whatever he is was a prisoner of some sort in the past?

David...i'm thinking "good to see you out of those chains" could mean 1 of 2 things (or 2 of 2 things)....and both are pertaining to Richard. Either Richard was a member of the Black Rock....and/or Richard was tied to Jacob and had to do his bidding. It would be weird for Flocke, having walked all the way to the statue with Richard, to all of a sudden say "good to see you out of those chains" unless something had changed since Flocke went into the statue. So Jacob was dead...and well it was revealed that Flocke was Smokey....and Richard seems to know who the Man in Black is and realize that's who Flocke is by the end of ep 2. I'm just rambling but I think for them to write something with us to eventually figure out it has a reverse meaning (i.e. Flocke was talking about himself being out of the chains) would be a stretch lol But...you never know!

I always figured that either Horace didn't know about the black rock or was just claiming to not know in front of a stranger who could have been one of the hostiles. love netflix streaming...i'm checking the CONSTANT right now as I'm typing. "the black rock set sail from portsmouth, england in 3/22/1845 on a trading mission to the kingdom of Siam and was unfortunately tragically lost at sea" (Siam is now known as Thailand) The book was recovered from San Marie Madagascar.... and it belongs to the ship's first mate

The seller was Tovard Hanso....a supposed descendant of Magnus Hanso (rumored to be the owner of the Black Rock).....and obviously both related to Alvar Hanso (the financial backer of DHARMA)

Man I have been misquoting this information too....i kept thinking Magnus Hanso was the one on the Black Rock. Crazy....I really hope we get some Black Rock info in this final season. I mean...I know we will...but I'm impatient!!!

Magnus Hanso was on the "Black Rock" I believe. The blast door map thing has a location on there that says "the last resting place of Magnus Hanso" which seems to be the same location as the "Black Rock" in the middle of the jungle Danielle Rousseau's "Dark Territory/La Territoire Fonce".

Interesting to note that San Marie, Madagascar is name after the Virgin Mary, who seems to pop up a lot in statue form on this show. LOL!

Madagascar was a Portuguese territory. Mikhail and the chick from Manchester from "Not Penny's Boat" both spoke Portuguese.

Not to beat this to death....but...if I was a slave on a slave ship, I doubt that I would be painstakingly reconstructing a replica "model in a bottle", like Richard has been seen to do, of the vessel where I was held captive, with a look of contentment and peace on my face.Maybe that's just me!I get creeped out by Southern Antebellum former plantation homes in the USA and I wasn't even there during the terrible times!However, if I was recalling a time when I had pride and joy running something, that might be different!LOL!Like you said Mike, we need answers, we know they are coming but I am impatient!

Horseman-Good find…I think Flocke was refrencing the black rock with the chains comments….It was intresting when I rewatched Flashes before your eyes when Desmond is putting on his tie after waking up in red paint he has an IDENTICAL mark on his neck just like Jack did when he was in the Alt on 815??Hmmm?? Maybe Desmond was flashing into the alt. timeline?? And right after he notices the mark he starts to have déjà vu when the microwave sounds like the hatch timer…

I really did not think this was THAT BAD of an episode, though it's not my favorite. The definite saving grace was the whole SAWYER part at the end.....YUM. He's just amazing. Love his scenes. I liked the last moment of Claire also....very good.

Yep David, Magnus was on the Black Rock...and yes his information was on the Blast Door Map. LOSTpedia suggests that we have enough information to also conclude he "OWNED" the Black Rock. Good point on the Virgin Mary thing. And the Portuguese thing. Although, I don't know if there's a connection with Penny's Portuguese employees and the Black Rock's journal ending up on the shores of Madagascar. Of course...maybe when Desmond vanished...it's the same time this book showed up on the shore??? That would be interesting. Also good points about Richard and him maybe not being a slave on the Black Rock. Maybe after 150 years...he's had a chance to get over it? lol Agree though, I'm impatient too...but at the same time I'm savoring every episode because not long from now....it will all be over!

Stedman, I haven't had a chance to check out Emerson on the Soup but I heard it was good. Thanks for the link!

Horseman...you and that crazy baseball! lol 108 stitches is kinda crazy. I cannot imagine that they would have given that much forethought to putting a baseball in Dogen's office. But who knows?!? It still is the sum of the numbers any way you slice it! nice find....and very interesting on the game of redeeming features. I would love if the series finale had a baseball game on the island with Team Jacob vs. Team MIB. On second thought........ LOL

Deebo...that comment came up in the the last recap (maybe you brought it up!) but I was finally inspired to queue up my Netflix streaming last night and check out the scene from Flashes Before Your Eyes (how awesome is it that 5 seasons of LOST are on Netflix streaming and instantly available for viewing? I have all of the blu-rays and i still find ways to use both! lol) anyway...i checked the scene and it definitely just looked like paint on his neck. And Penny was the one that saw it...not Desmond. The deja vu's happened when he looked at the clock that said 108, the microwave sounding like the hatch clock beeping, and then many moments after. I still think there are very similar themes to Desmond's experience and the experiences that Jack and Crew are going through now. The big difference is....Desmond had Flashes of the Future that never stopped when his mind returned to the Island, and his past was still the same. And of course....in this new scenario there are 2 different timelines we are seeing parallell....and things are DIFFERENT in Jack and Crew's world based on actions that were different in the past. Now...we know the rules are different for desmond and that probably applies to his consciousness time travel, his connection to Daniel Faraday, and his appearance to Jack on the Flash Sideways Flight 815. We also know that Eloise said that the island is not done with him. So this all means something! I'm not sure if the red markings on the neck in both scenarios are the clue or not though. We'll see!

Kim, I agree the episode wasn't awful...and I think when we look at the season as a whole, it will have played it's part in the larger scale of the show. There definitely were great moments. Sawyer's emotional scene, Claire as badass Rousseau, Jack taking the Pill, Ethan showing up off island, the whole killer whale thing and the deja-vu's in the Flash Sideways......and of course 2 killer Hurley and Miles lines to add to their pantheon of great quotes! That earns the WOW rating for me! lol

Ok, I did my homework and watched Walkabout and Orientation. It brings to light some issues about parents. In Orientation, Sawyer (not Ford) says John "needed a father figure, and he needed a kidney." Is he really Locke's father, or was that just a part of the con? Sure, he matched for a kidney transplant, but that doesn't have to mean they're related. We met John's mom before labor and I don't think that was the same mom that tracked him down. And this also brings to light what could be another great father reveal, Sawyer (now I mean James Ford) laying under the bed when his father shoots himself! We never see his father's face!

I think I had these same questions back in the day, but I am pretty sure this one is ANSWERED. It was a complex enough story between Sawyer's parents being conned by Locke's father to keep track of for 3 seasons...they wouldn't want to complicate it further by making it not Locke's father in season 6! Now yes, seeing Sawyer's father might be a big reveal but I don't know about that!

btw...i did my homework too and watched those episodes. They still hold up amazingly. Great episodes of TV!

Love this blog! I could read everyone's comments all day. I also like to go back to previous seasons and see what crazy stuff was being guessed.

Just throwing this out there: Jacob and MIB are two sides of the same coin - one is merciful, one renders judgment. Neither is 'good' or 'evil'. And this 'war' that is supposedly coming, well, is doesn't have to be the Jacobites vs. the MIB.

Watching the promos for tonight's episode, I was intrigued when Sawyer mentioned that he has crashed on the island from a plane, tried to leave by raft (which got blown up), tried to leave by helicopter (out of which he had to jump out of) and finally tried leaving by submarine and we know what happened there!It was funny to hear him reel out his attempted departures like that.

Nice David..I don't think i've seen that promo yet so i'll be excited to see it tonight!

Thanks Timothy! Glad you enjoy the blog and are reading older posts! Makes me feel like it was worth it to post the link to every recap on the right hand side! LOL I love everyone's comments too. We have some really great discussions here. It's going to be sad to see it all end!

I am somewhat short on time and I am reposting this from the premiere episode (my apologies).

I do NOT think that Christian is the Smoke Monster.

The reason? Remember when Sun and the pilot first got to the old run down Dharmaville and Christian was there? I am not sure if it was covered here, but there was a scene it which Christian was seen and the Smoke monster was coming in the door (or leaving) at the same time.

Now I just wish I could find that screen shot.

Here is a vid of my theory...http://www.youtube.com/watch#videos=9UL0hqVRyIU&v=dJitGXMzroc

I thought this was a decent follow up to the season premiere, but I think we're still getting our bearings and adjusting to these dual timelines. To some degree, the show went back to character building over constant action and plot twists, and the characters are what has made the show so enjoyable. And we knew there had to be a Kate-centric episode in the final season, so we got it out of the way in the third hour!

But I was also a bit surprised by this Kate-centric ep. Because while the acting has always been solid on the show (except for that Nikki and Paulo ep!), it seemed to reach a new level with this episode. Perhaps the actors are so comfortable in their roles that it became second nature to them, but that can't explain everything. To me, Evangeline Lilly as Kate gave her best performance ever in this episode, reaching new heights with remarkable subtlety.

Josh Holloway matched Lilly with a less surprising but no less terrific performance as Sawyer. His anguish about losing Juliet was palpable and his scenes with Kate on the pier were beautiful. I haven't researched whatever Emmys the show or the cast won, but surely they picked up a few? Maybe not Lilly, who wasn't always as strong as in this episode (or Matthew Fox as Jack, who tends to be a little wooden), but perhaps some of the others who were deserving?

Haha, then I read at the end of Mike's recap that this episode might've been a little cheesy. Eh, maybe I'm just a sucker for sentimentality (actually, I know I am). I can understand how people think that the stories of Kate with Sawyer and Claire in the new timeline don't connect with them, but maybe Kate almost feels like a redeemed character for me, despite her being on the run from the law. Hmm, look at me defending Kate!

Funny the producers used the "flash sideways" phrase to describe the alternative timeline, since I used the same phrase in a comment many episodes ago, along with flash diagonal, flash up and flash down!

More interesting is how Kate and Jack are having unmistakable deja vu moments when they see each other. There are touches of other deja vu moments with Claire as well. Are deja vu moments the beginnings of how the show merges the two timelines together?

I wonder what Charles Widmore will think about this alternative timeline with everyone avoiding the crash? Not to mention Eloise and Dan! (Or do they even exist?) And what happened to Ben? If the island is at the bottom of the ocean....

What's amazing is how everyone else seems to know more about the secrets of the island than our heroes! We've been given the rationale for that being the case, but it's still stunning how they were kept in the dark as much as they were.

So Sayid and Claire have taken a turn towards the dark side? And Sayid is now "claimed"? This has Smokey written all over it. And even with stringy hair, I wouldn't kick Claire out of bed.

Sometime early in each season, the writers put together a script that proves they're making the right choices and demonstrates why they're going in the best direction. This wasn't that type of episode, but it established a pathway for one of the next two or three that might be.

Yeah...the same theme for Kate applies in the final season. KATE RUNS!! lol That's funny that you think Evangeline (who was not really an actress prior to LOST, she actually was on a commercial for a "singles" phone chat thing which was her claim to fame.) had her best episode. She definitely improved over the series and wasn't too bad....but there was one line in this episode that is very laughable. When the dude from Always Sunny says "don't slow me down"....she says "better not slow ME down." LOL It's pretty painful! But, it's not that big of a deal. The stuff with sawyer on island and claire off island were pretty good.

Jack wooden!?! Nooo! Jack is the man! lol He puts in some great performances in this final season. At least I hope you agree. But, won't cry myself to sleep at night if you don't!

Good call on "Flash sideways" Miles. I forgot you said that. I remember flash diagonal though now that you bring it up.

Great episode, but not much to speculate further on. I still stand by my theories the last episode, especially since we’re delving so deep into this “flash sideways”. It’s funny because I was so blown away by the flash forward at the end of season 3 and look how far LOST has come, lol.

The only weird random thought I had while reading the comments on this page (though only halfway down) was that Hurley sees ghosts and his imaginary friend Dave was a ghost, not a delusion. And that he was also Libby’s husband, and that’s why she was in the psychiatric ward as well, she had a breakdown when he died. And that Dave told Hurley to jump into the rocks on the island because Dave’s mad at Hurley for starting something with his ex-wife. He did make a remark like how could anyone who looks like Libby like something like Hurley? I know this will never get revisited, which is upsetting because I was so blown away by and invested in Libby’s storyline! Oh well. So that’s my theory and I’m sticking with it, especially if it never gets revisited then I can just think I’m right on that! :D

Anyway, not much to say on this episode. Could just recount my feelings again. Basically, my least favorite characters are:

3. Sayid the torturer/murderer/guy who ditches girls he claims to love in favor of other girls he claims to love. He’s annoying and makes me eyeroll. He was ultra annoying in this episode but like you said, very out of character.

2. Jack, Mr Wannabe Hero who is arrogant and full of himself, who is not as good as he pretends to be. I love seeing him take a beating.

1. Kate, Ms Goody TwoShoes who is worse than Jack in terms of pretending she is someone she is not. Kate is irredeemable in my eyes, no matter how much of a heart they try to show her having, she just fucks everything up every time. Even Sawyer’s moment. I hope she was crying so hard when Sawyer threw the ring in the water because she only wished he could love her as much as he loved Juliet.

OK that’s it! Don’t mean to be so harsh, haha, but I love to hate on these characters, it makes the show more fun when I can yell at them. All in good fun! (Aka I’ve got issues, lol).

We all have our opinions! Maybe you'll come around on Jack eventually. lol I stuck by him in the hard times! There was always a lot of Kate hate out there. I never saw it...but on my rewatches I did get a little more annoyed by her. Funny stuff!

As for the Dave/Libby/Hurley thing. Yeah...that's similar to how I wrapped things up in my head. May not be the actual truth, and maybe there never was a story figured out there...but the fact that David was the name of Libby's husband who died makes it likely that Hurley's imaginary friend Dave could have been him and there was a story in the works there. Oh well!

As for this episode...yeah it wasn't everyone's favorite of the final season. But there are definite gems ahead of you. Enjoy!!

Nothing too important, just it's interesting to me that you never caught on a fact (or at least never mentioned it in the blog post / comments) that Kate's Joan Hart alias was put there because Beth Broderick, who plays Kate's mom on LOST, also plays Sabrina's (Melissa Joan Hart) aunt and her legal guardian on The Teenage Witch :)

Just checked what I stated and nope never made the connection at all on the blog. I could've sworn I read that it was a shout out to Melissa Joan Hart, but I guess if I did I never followed up here. Anyway, thanks for pointing out the connection! Better late than never. :)

Actually it was one episode per work day (Mon-Fri) from beginning, never once per week. The thing is though I don't get to watch it every single day so I record and watch later, sometimes two episodes per day or on the weekends... season 6 seems great so far btw, I like the direction this season is heading in, the direction producers decided to go... maybe I should wait until it is over, but the show definitely goes down as one of the greatest in tv history, at least in my opinion, and yours too I believe :)

No doubt in my mind this is one of the greatest shows and TV Phenoms we'll ever have gotten to see! It's my favorite of all time.

I'll be interested in your opinion when the show is all said and done. The opinions are definitely all over the map. I certainly enjoyed it and respected the direction they went with. You seem to have the right frame of mind going into this season to have a chance at being content when it's done! TBD! lol

"In one of the most gripping scenes of LOST ever we get an entire scene dedicated to Kate ditching the cuffs at an auto shop. (Definitely kidding about the gripping part)"

Hahaha totally agree with you, but it's funny because I was excited since the auto mechanic is the same actor that later played Joe from the claimers group in The Walking Dead (second half of season 4). I remember when he first showed up in TWD a lot of people thought we'd be seeing him again, so I wouldn't be surprised if we do on here too. I think he would've made an amazing high-ish ranking Other.

Also, I know this is just a total coincidence, but I found it funny when I realized that he appeared in the same episode that the Others referred to Sayid as being "claimed," Joe's trademark statement in TWD.